July 4th

Fourth of July Parade

On 4 July 2003, twenty of our members and guests (most of whom are in the photo to the left) met at 0800 at the Office Depot loading dock to decorate a 7-ton MTVR (shown in the background of the photo to the left and below) as our float in the annual City of Oceanside Independence Day Parade. Everyone wore their brightest Red, White, and Blue in honor of our country's birthday.

In the photo to the right, Vice President Isela Talamantes is shown gathering signatures from our riders on a release form as required by the Marine Corps.

The theme of the parade was “Flags on Parade”, and MajGen William G. Bowdon, Commanding General of MCB Camp Pendleton, California, was the Grand Marshall. The parade route ran north along Coast Highway from Wisconsin Avenue to Civic Center Drive in downtown Oceanside.

As was the case last year, the vehicle (shown in the thumbnail to the left) was obtained through the efforts of Vice President Isela Talamantes and her husband GySgt Ron Talamantes. Gunny Talamantes had just returned from Iraq the day before. His unit was in the first group that entered Baghdad in “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

The parade began promptly at 1000. Our driver and new chapter member, LCpl Shin Yen Kook, (shown wearing cammies in the group photo above) was a petite, soft-spoken young lady. She is one of the few women licensed to drive the huge MTVRs. LCpl Kook was med-evac’d from Iraq when the vehicle she was driving flipped and rolled--pinning her inside the cab. “The only thing that saved my life was the roll bars,” she said.

The turn-out for the parade was superb. Enthusiastic people lined both sides of the street and applauded and waved as we went by. Some of the folks in the crowd shouted “way to go”, “thank you”, “go get ’em” and “you're the best” as we passed by. Others gave us a thumbs up. The photo to the right (taken from inside our float) shows a sampling of the crowd reacting to our float.

The Young Marines Coyote Chapter from Camp Pendleton was the group marching directly behind our vehicle. These boys and girls marched the entire parade route carrying a large American flag as shown in the photo to the left.

Our last photo shown below was also shot from inside our float. It shows the appreciative reception we received at the end of the parade route at the Oceanside Civic Center. Even though the day was on the humid side, everybody enjoyed themselves and we look forward to participating in next year's parade.